Knitting machine



June 28, 1.938 l.. RoBAczYNsKl 2,122,239

KNITTING MACHINE vFiled March 7, 1955 4 s11'eets-sheet-1 Q 'Pr/f. if .z

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ATTORNEYS.

June 28, 1938. l.. RoBAczYNsKl KNITTING MACHINE Filed Maren 7, 1955 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 R./ O wy M M w M .M

ATTORNEYS.

@W DVD@ June 28, 1938. L. RoBAczYNsKl KNITTING MACHINE 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed March 7, 1955 INVENTOR. Aa/52AM? P05/1 cZy/vJ/m Mv mvNkN ATTORNEYS.

.NW E W W tained than is possible with such machines as them in the non-knittingposition while the re- 10 Patented June 2s, 193s .2,122,239

UNiTED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,122,239 ilNiiiTlNG MACHINE Ladislaus Reiiaczynski, Brooklyn, N. Y.

Ap; lcation March. '1, 1935, Serial No. 9,721

3 Claims. (Cl. 66-63) This invention relates to new and useful imt vary the location of forming the loop or raised provements in knitting machines and more parstitch on such a machine, the machine must be ticularly it pertains to knitting machines of the stopped and reset to produce the loop or raised so-caiied fiat type. stitch in the new location desired.

One object of the present invention is to im- In the Strelz patent referred to, the loops or prove the construction and mode of operation of raised stitches are formed by means attached flat type knitting machines and to provide such to certain predetermined needles, which means machines with a novel mechanism by which a acts to retract such needles from the knitting wider range or variety of patterns may be obposition to a non-knitting position and to hold they are at present generally constructed. maining needles perfOrm the 11511211 knitting 0p- In certain types of knitting, an ornamental eration. In this machine, all needles would figure or pattern is formed by employing what is normally perform a knitting Operation unless generally known in the art as a raised stitch, they are provided with the retracting means, in raised with respect to the main body portion of which case the needles provided with the retractthe fabric.- In the production of such patterns, ing means and such needles only, form the IOODS however, the finished fabric generally has upon or raised stitches and to obtain this loop or its rear or reverse side, a-relatively'long length raised stitch with other needles, the machine of yarn commonly known in the art as a float. must be reset.

Floats are undesirable, since because they are in I have found in actual practice that if all the form of straight strands or yarns, they have needles are normally positioned in a l10n-knitno give and consequently, rob the nished fabric ting position and those needles which are to of stretch or give in the direction of the length perform the knitting operation are moved from of the float. Another disadvantage of the float their normal non-knitting position to the knitis that it presents long loops which are readilyting position, the loops or raised stitches being caught by articles of personal wear and broken, formed by the inoperative needles, I am enand when broken, a puckering or bulging of the abled to select at will the needles to perform the fabric results. knitting operation and thereby those which form A feature of the present invention resides in the loops or raised stitches and I am therefore the PIOVSOIl 0f a novel Construction whereby able, not only to locate the loops or raised stitches 30 raised stitch patterns may be produced without wherever I may desire, but may also vary at will the formation of the so-called oat. their length.

I am aware that certain machines of the prior` A feature of the present invention resides in art propose to accomplish the aforefmentloned the provision of a novel mechanism whereby the result as for example, the machine illustrated in needles may be selectively moved from an in- Patent No. 1,609,325, grantedv to one, A. Strelz, operative knitting positionto an operative knit- December 7, 1926. The machine of' this patent, ting position. I as well as all other machines which purport to A further feature of the inventionresides in accomplish this result, with which I am familiar, the provision of suitable mechanism whereby the 2,-.wil1-z`produce only the one patternfor which .several operations ofthe machine may be car- 40 they are set up and when-a ynew or-.diiferent patried out automatically. terntis'desired, the machinemust-be stopped and' Other-; features of the invention' relate to cersetiups: to produce v,the new pattern desired. -1 tain noveland improved constructions, arrange- Hencepeach change'vof patternrequires a rements'and combinations of parts hereinafter de- :setting of the machine. i scribed and lparticularly pointed out in the 45 The machine illustrated in the Strelz. patent claims, the advantages of which will be readily heretofore mentionedforms relatively long loops understood and appreciated by those skilled in inthe fabric, the loops being equal in length to the art. one' full round ortwo rows of ,ordinary purl y The invention will be clearly understood from stitches. In fabric` produced upon this machine, lthe accompanying drawings illustrating the inhowever, the loop or 'raised stitch is fixed as to* vention in its preferred form and the following location.- That is to say, that with `any given detailedy description of the constructions thereset up o f the machine, the formation of the loop in shown. or raised stitch is limitedto certain needles and Inthe drawings, y cannot be formed by the needlesat will and that Figure 1 is a top plan view of the carriage 55 of a ilat knitting machine with a portion of the carriage mechanism removed, the cam blocks which form the cam channels on the under face of the carriage being shown in dotted lines,

Figure 2 is an inverted plan view of the under face of the carriage illustrating the cam blocks and channels,

Figure 3 is a detail plan view partly broken away of a portion of one side of the carriage and illustrating a portion of the mechanismV of the present invention,

of a. vportion of the mechanism employed,

Figure 5 is a detail perspective view of one of the retractable cam blocks,

Figure 6 is a detail sectional view taken substantially on the line 5-6 of Figure 3,

Figure 7 is a detail sectional view taken substantially on the line 1-1 of Figure 3;

Figure 8 is a plan view of a section of fabric which is knit upon the machine embodying the improvements of the present invention,

Figure 9 is a detail transverse sectional view taken substantially on the line 9-9 of Figure l,

Figure 10 is a detail transverse sectional view taken substantially on the line Ill-I0 of Figure 1,

Figure 11 is a. detail transverse sectional view taken substantially on the line II-II of Figure l, and;

Figure 12 is a detail transverse sectional view taken substantially on the line I2-I2 of Figure l.

Referring to the drawings by reference character, and more particularly to Figure l, A designates a knitting machine carriage. The carriage comprises two side members I5 and I5, the member I5 being the rear member of the carriage, the member I6 being the front member of the carriage. Each member comprises a bar -I1, and these bars are so positioned with respect to each other that their inner edges designated respectively I8 and I9, are slightly spaced, which space constitutes the knitting position of the machine. Each bar carries on its under face a plurality of cam blocks so arranged with relation to one another that they provide a plurality of channels of irregular form and the side walls of these channels, which side walls are formed by the adjacent side edges of the cam blocks, form the operating means of the needles and their various associated parts to eect a predetermined sequence of operation of the needles.

The front member I6 of the carriage is of conventional form. The cam blocks carried by the bar I1, which constitutes the rear member of the carriage are arranged in three groups, each of which groups extends longitudinally of the bar. 'I'he inner or foremost group, with respect to the longitudinal center line ofthe machine, comprises a plurality of cam blocks 20, 2I, 22, 23, 24, 25 and 26. Mounted to the rear of these cam blocks 2I to 26, inclusive, thereis a plurality of cam blocks 21, 28 and 29. These two groups of cam blocks provide a channel 30 of irregular form which extends 'longitudinally of the carriage. Mounted to the rear of the cam blocks 21 to 29, inclusive, there is another group comprising cam blocks 3|, 32, 33, 34, 35 and 35, and these latter cam blocks 3| through 36, inclusive, together with the cam blocks 21 through 29, inclusive, provide a channel 31, which latter channel lies to the rear of the channel 30 and extends substantially throughout the length of the side member I5. The reference character 38 designates a branch channel leading from the channel 30, and extending forwardly thereof. This branch channel 38 is connected at its ends to the channel 30, at which points it has communication therewith and is formed by a cam block 39 positioned to the rear of and slightly spaced with relation to the cam block 23 heretofore mentioned. By reference to Figure 1, it will be noted that the channels 30 and 38 extend a' around the .cam block 39 and that lthe branch Figure 4 is a distended detail perspective view channel 38 is located forwardly of the channel 3Ilwith respect to the longitudinal center line of the carriage. Mounted opposite vthe right hand end of the branch channel 38 in Figure 1, there is a cam block 40, and mounted opposite the left hand end of the branch channel 38 in Figure 1, there is a cam block 4I. These two cam blocks 40 and 4I are extensible and retractable, and when in their retracted position, their outer face is `ush with the top wall of the channel 30, in which positiony the cam blocks are ineffective.

Mechanism is provided to retract and extend these cam blocks alternately. That is to say, that when either block is in its kextended position the other block will be retracted. It will be noted that when either block is in its ex-y tended position, it forms a portion of the wall of. the channel 30, and when in its retracted position its corresponding cam block 28 will form the wall of the channel. Thus, the extensible and retractable cam blocks 40 and 4I alter the shape of the channel 3U between the cam blocks 22 and 28, and 24 and 28 for a purpose to be hereinafter described.

Mechanism by which these camv blocks are operated is more clearly shown in Figures 3 to 7. In Figure 5 it will benoted that each cam block is provided with a vertically extending standard 45. This standard is notched as at 46, and between the end walls of the notched portion 46, there is a cam member 41. These cam blocks 40 and 4I are slidably mounted as at 4B in a plate 69 suitably mounted upon the carriage and slidably mounted beneath this plate 49 there is a cam member 50. This cam member 50 is so arranged that it has spaced inclined faces 5I and 52 at one end and 53 and 54 at the other end and it is carried by a reciprocating bar 55, it being connected thereto -by a suitable plate or the like 56. The reciprocating bar 55 has a series of notches 51,58, 59 and 68, and adapted for engagement with these notches there is a spring 5I, the tension of which may be adjusted by a screw or bolt 62, mounted in a bracket 63 suitably secured to the carriage. By means, not V shown.v but which may be chain controlled in a manner which is common to the control of various elements of this type of machine, the reciprocation of the bar 55 is effected as the carriage reaches each end of its traversing movement. For example, with the parts in the position in which they are shown in Figure 1 and with the carriage moving to the left in said figure, the cam 4I will be extended and the cam 40 retracted. As the carriage reaches the end of its traversing movement toA the-left, the bar 55 will be reciprocatedv to the right in Figure 3, which operation will cause the inclined face 52, of the member 59 to ride beneath the cam member 41 of the cam block 4I and elevate the same. At the same time, the cam face 53 of the member 58 will en'gage the upper face of the cam member 41 of the cam block 40 Vanddepress or extend riage now moves to the right in Figure 1 and as l it reaches the end of its movement in this direction, the bar 55 will be reciprocated to the left, in which position it is shown in full lines in -Figure and thismovement of the bar will cause the cam face 5| of the member 58 to engage the upper face of vthe cammember 41 ofthe cam block 4|` to move said cam block 4| to its extended position, and the cam face 54 of the member 50 will engagepbeneath the cam member 41 of the cam block 48 to move saidv cam block 48 lto its retracted position.` Thus it will be apparent lthat depending upon the directionC of travel of the carriage, the leading cam block of the cam blocks 48 and 4| will be extended while the trailing cam block will be retracted. To retain the operating bar 55 in the position to which it is moved at the end of each stroke, the spring 6| is adapted to engage in one position, the notches 51 and 59, and in the other position, the notches 58 and |58. n

In the accompanying drawings, the needles, whichare of the so-called double latch type,

are designated by the reference character 18, and l as best illustrated in Figure 7, these needles are slidable in channels 1| in needle beds directly beneath the carriage. It is to be understood that in machines of this type there are two needle beds which are spaced from each other, the space between the needle beds being directly below the space between the adjacent edges I8 and i9 of the side bars of the carriage, and that during the knitting operation the needles may bek transferred from time to time, from the` channels in one bed to the channels in the other bed, which transfer of needles is eected inthe well-known manner by jacks 14 in the rear bed and jacks 15 in the front bed, whichlatter, by the way, is herein illustrated as of conventional form. -As best illustrated in Figures 9 vto 12,

`inclusive, these jacks 14 and 15 have projections or butts 16, and are moved, longitudinally of their respective channels inthe needle beds by passage of said butts through the channels formed by the various cam blocks. of the carriage in a manner to be hereinafter described. The needle beds are so Vformed that the forward ends of the needle channels with respect to the longitudinal centerline of the machine, are provided with teeth 11, 1 as best seen in Figures 9 to l2, and it is between the adjacent edges of these teeth that the yarn is laid upon the open latches of the needles during a knitting operation. It will, therefore, be

seen Athat if the needles are positioned across.i',he

space between the needle beds so that their latches receive a yarn as it is laid and the needles again retracted or transferred to the other bed, a knitting operation will be effected. These l positions of the needles are illustrated in Figures 9 to 11. If, however, a needle is held retracted with its hooked end positioned between the' teeth 11 ofthe channel in which itis mounted, in which position a needle is illustrated in Figure l2, the needle will not receive the yarn as it is laid and therefore, will not effect a knitting operation buty will merely remain idle holding the stitch previously formed upon the needle. v

' Referring to Figure 8, the rseveral stitches designated B arethose which are formed by the v knitting operation and in the illustration are of the type known as, purl stitch. It will be noted in the said illustration that certain stitches, for example, those designated C, are longer than the stitches B, their length being equal to two courses rows of stitches B, and these stitches or loops C are formed by those needles which, as shown in Figure 12y of the drawings,'lie idle behind the 'or one complete, round, which constitutes two teeth 11 of the needle bed in which they are mountedwhile a yarn is laid in the needles which are to effect the knitting operation. While in the presentvillust'ration these stitches or loops C have been shown of a size equal to two rows of stitches or one complete round, they may be of any def effect a knitting operation. If, however, the butts of the needle jacks traverse the channel 30, passing to therear of the cam block 39, they do not enter the branch channel v38, and the jacks and needles will berheldretracted in the position in which they are illustrated in Figure 12, and those needles which are retained in the retracted position will not receive a yarn but will merely hold the stitch previously formed thereon to form 'the long stitches or loops C in Figure 8, while the remaining needles perform the knitting operation.

From the foregoing it will be apparent that with the present device, that all the needles, were their jacks to pass through the channel 30, would be'inoperative toeffect a knitting operation and therefore, some means must be provided to move the jacks andneedles forwardly to the knitting position. 'In' the present embodiment of the invention this meansconslsts of jack pushers designated 18 yin the drawings, and by reference to Figures 9 to 12, inclusive, it will be seen that these jack pushers eachy have a butt 19 projecting from their upper edge at the forward end thereof.

with the jacks, operate'to select those needles which are to perform the knitting operation, and this operation will now be described.

VInFigure 1' of thedrawings, I have illustrated two needles, one o f which is to perform the knitting operation, the other needle to remain retracted and hold the stitch previously formed thereon in order that a relatively long loop or stitch such as C, may be formed. In Figure 1 itis to-be assumedV that the carriage is moving towards the left, in which case the cam block 4| will be extended and the cam block 48 retracted in the manner heretofore described. For the sake of illustration, the two needles will be designated 80 and 8|, the needle 88 being that needle which performs the knitting operation, and the needle 8| being that needle which operates to re- -tain the stitch previously formed thereon and which is held retracted so that it does not receive a yarn during the yarn laying operation. As the carriage moves to the left in said figure, the butts of the jacks will engage the edge 83 of the cam block 4| and will be directed through the channel 38 to apoint opposite the entrance to the branch channel 38. During this operation the butt 19 of that pusher 18 which is positioned at the rear of the jack of the needle 80, is travelling through the channel 31, and immediately the butt 16 of said jack behind the needle 80 is in the position opposite the entrance to the branch channel 38, the pusher by reason of engagement of its butt with the wall 84 of the channel 31, will move forward and introduce the butt of the needle jack behind the needle 80 into the branch channel 38, whereupon the branch channel, by reason of its shape, will move the jack forwardly, thus moving the needle to knitting position and out of engagement with the jack pusher 18, as illustrated in the third position reading from the left in Figure 1. During this operation, the pusher 18 to the rear of the jack of the needle 8| not having been moved forward, has its butt positioned behind the cams 3| to 36, inclusive, and therefore not travelling through the channel 31, does not engage the rear of the jack 14 behind said needle 8|, and therefore the jack 14 behind the needle 8| travels through the channel 30, passing to the rear of the cam block 39, to move the needle 8| to the retracted position shown in the third position reading from the left in Figure 1, and illustrated also in Figure 12, in which position it will not receive the laid yarn, and therefore, will not eiect a knitting operation but will merely hold the stitch previously formed thereon.

While I have not shown any means for moving the pushers 18 forwardly to a position where they may be picked up by the channel 31, I have in actual practice used ordinary jacquard cards operated in a conventional manner to selectively move the jack pushers forwardly into the position where they will be picked up by the channel 31 and cause to operate the jacks to move the selected needles to the knitting position. Thus it will be seen that by the provision of suitable,

jacquard cards, those needles upon which the longer stitches or loops are to be formed may be selected and thus the long stitches or loops may be formed at any location desired in the finished fabric.

While I am aware of the fact that a fabric similar in many respects to that shown in Figure 8, has heretofore been formed upon machines of this type, so far as I am aware, the larger loops or stitches designated C in said Figure 8, cannot be selectively located in the fabric. This isbecause of the fact that in the machines of the prior art, the needles normally traverse a knitting course and are held in retracted position when the loops or large stitches are desired. To retract the needles and needle jacks from a normal knitting position to a non-knitting position requires a pull upon the needles, and therefore the needle jack operators were attached to the jacks and only those needles which had the operators attached to the jacks could be retracted to nonknitting position, therefore limiting the number of needles upon which the largerloops or stitches C could be formed.

In the present mechanism, however, all of the needles would normally travel a non-knitting course and are pushed forwardly into knitting position. For example, if none of the jack pushers were moved to a position where they would be picked up by the channel 31, the-butts of the needle jacks would pass through the channel 38 and would not enter the branch channel 38, and therefore, would not perform a knitting opera'- tion. By this arrangement and construction, lt

is apparent that the knitting operation may be performed selectively upon the needles and thatv in so doing, any desired needles may be held inoperative, and therefore, may be caused selectively to form the longer stitches or loops C, and therefore, these loops may be formed at any position in the finished fabric. By the same token, these loops may be of any desired length since the needles upon which they are formed may be held retracted for two or more courses or two or more rounds and may be thrown into operation at any time merely by the operation of the jack pushers by a suitable jacquard mechanism.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new, is:

1. In aknitting machine having mutually adjacent at needle beds and a carriage slidable over said needle beds, needles slidable in said needle beds, jacks slidable in said needle beds, butts on said jacks, a plurality of stationary cam blocks carried by said carriage and forming a plurality of spaced continuous channels upon the under face of the carriage,which channels extend substantially throughout the length of the carriage, and one of which is adapted to receive the butts of the jacks to retain the needles retracted in a non-knitting position, a branch channel ,leading from that channel through which the jack butts pass, said branch channel communicating at its ends with said channel and being adapted to receive the butts of the jacks to advance the needles to a knitting position, extensible and retractable cam blocks for engagement with the butts of the jacks to advance the jacks to a position where their butts mayv enter the branch channel, and means for introducing the butts of the jacks into said branch channel.

2. In a knitting machine having mutually adjacent fiat needle beds. and a carriage slidable over said needle beds, needles slidable in said needle beds, jacks slidable in said needle beds, butts ,on said jacks, a plurality of stationary cam blocks carried by said carriage and forming a plurality of spaced continuous channels upon the under face of the carriage, which channels extend substantially throughout the length of the carriage, and one of which ls adapted to receive the butts of the jacks to retain the needles retracted in a non-knitting position, a branch channel leading from that channel through which the jack butts pass, said branch channel communicating at its ends with said channel and being adapted to receive the butts of the jacks to advance the needles to a knitting position, extensible and retractable cam blocks for engagement with the butts of the jacks to advance the jacks to a position where their butts may enter the branch channel, and selectively operated means for introducing the butts of the jacks into said branch channel.

3. In a. knitting machine having mutually adjacent flat needle beds and a carriage slidable over said needle beds, needles slidable in said needle beds, jacks slidable in said needle beds, butts on said jacks, a plurality of stationary cam blocks carried by said carriage and forming a plurality of spaced continuous channels upon the under face of the carriage, which channels extend substantially throughout the length of the carriage, and one of which is adapted to receive the butts of the jacks toretain the needles retracted in a ends with said channel and being adapted to receive the butts of the jacks to advance .the needles to a knitting position, extensible and retractible cam blocks for engagement with the butts of the jacks to advance the jacks to a position where their butts may enter the branch channel, means for alternately extending and retracting said extensible and retractiblecam blocks, and selectively operated means for introducing the butts of the jacks into said branch channel.

4. In a knitting machine having mutually adjacent flat needle beds and a carriage slidable over said needle beds, needles slidable in said needle beds, jacksslidable in said needle beds, butts on said jacks, a plurality of stationary cam blocks carried by said carriage and forming a plurality of spaced continuous channels upon the under face of the carriage, which channels extend substantially throughout the length of the carriage, and one of which is adapted to receive the butts of the jacks to retain the'needles retracted in a non-knitting position, a branch channel leading from that channel through which the jack butts pass, said branch channel communicating at its ends with said channel and being adapted to receive the butts of the jacks to advance the needles to a knitting position, extensible and retractible cam' blocks for engagement with the butts of the jacks to advance the jacks to a position Where their butts may enter the branch channel, automatic means for alternately extending and retracting said extensible and contractable cam blocks, and selectively operated means for introducing the butts of the jacks into said branch channel.

5. In a knitting machine having mutually adjacent fiat needle 'beds and a carriage slidable over said needle beds, needles slidable in said needle beds, jacks slidable in said needle beds, butts on said jacks, a plurality of stationary cam blocks carried by said carriage and forming a plurality of spaced continuous channels upon the under face of the carriage, which channels extend substantially throughout the length of the carriage, and one of which is adapted to receive the butts of the jacks to retain the needles retracted in a non-knitting position, a branch channel leading from that channel through which the jack butts pass, said branch channel communicating at its ends with said channel and being adapted to receive the butts of the jacks to advance the needles to a knitting position, extensible and retractible cam blocks for engagement with the butts of the jacks to advance the jacks to a position where their butts may enter the branch channel, means operable at the end of each traverse movement of the carriage for alternately extending and retracting said extensible and retractible cam blocks, and selectively operated means for introducing the butts of the jacks into said branch channel.

6. In a knitting machine having mutually adjacent at needle beds and a carriage slidable over said needle beds, needles slidable in said needle beds, jacks slidable in said needle beds; butts on said jacks, a plurality of stationary cam blocks I carried by said carriage and forming a plurality of spaced continuous channels upon the under face of the carriage, which channels extend substantially throughout the length of the carriage, and one of which is adapted to receive the butts of the jacks to Aretain the needles retracted in a non-knitting position, a branch channel leading from that channel through which the jack butts pass, said branch channel communicating at its ,ends with said channel and being adapted to reoperated means for introducing the butts of the jacks into said branch channel.

7. In a knitting machine having mutually adjacent needle beds and a carriage slidable over said needle beds. needles slidable in said needle beds, jacks slidable in said needle beds, jack pushers slidable in one of said needle beds, butts on said jacks, butts on said jack pushers, a plurality of stationary cam blocks carried by said carriage and forming a pair of spaced channels one of which is forward of the other with relation to the longitudinal center line of the machine, the foremost of said channels being adapted to receive the butts of the jacks and the rear channel being adapted to receive the butts of the jack pushers, a branch channel leading from the foremost of said channels and having communication therewith at each end of the branch channel, said branch channel being adapted to receive the butts of the needles to move the same to effect a knitting operation, the butts of the jacks being introduced into the branch channel by the jack pushers, and means for positioning the butts of the jacks alternately opposite to the ends of the branch channel in opposite directions of movement of the carriage to permit of their introduction into the branch channel by the jack pushers, said last mentioned means comprising cam blocks movable into and out of position in the foremost of said `channels and located at the ends of said branch channel.

8. In a knitting machine-having mutually adjacent needle beds and a carriage slidable over said needle beds, needles slidable in said needle beds, jacks slidable in said needle beds, jack pushers slidable in one of said needle beds, butts on said jacks, butts on said `lack pushers, a plurality of stationary cam blocks carried by said carriage 1 said branch channel being adapted to receive the butts of the needles to move the same to effect a knitting operation, the butts of the :lacks being introduced into the branch channel by the jack pushers, and means for positioning the butts of the jacks alternately opposite to the ends of the branch channel in opposite directions of movement of the carriage to permit of their introduction into the branch channel by the jack pushers, said last mentioned means comprising cam blocks alternately movable into and out of posi-,tion in the foremost of said channels and located at the ends of the branch channel and means for antomatically operating said cam blocks.

LADrsLAUs RoBAczYnsKI. 

